


Spiced Drinks, Scary Things and Stupid Suggestions.

by DryCereal



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Autumn, Comfort, Fluff, Gaming, Halloween, M/M, Spooky Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-28 12:53:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8446573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DryCereal/pseuds/DryCereal
Summary: Autumn 2016. Sometimes picking the games is harder than playing them. Who'd have thought?





	

The subject is first brought up when they are passing Starbucks and see all things pumpkin-spiced are back on the menu.

 Dan's half-hearted protests about how they're in a rush (no more than has been the case all year) and how it's still far too warm in London for hot drinks of any kind ("they have _frappés_ this year Dan, **_look_**!") are swept aside in seconds by Phil's almost childlike excitement. He's busy trying to think of a third reason not to go in when Phil grabs his upper arm in one hand, hustling him through the door he's opened with the other.

 They're at the counter waiting for their drinks when Phil turns to him, eyes bright and murmurs "We need to decide what to play for spooky week"

 "Relax, Mr Corporate Calendar, we still have _plenty_ of time - it's not even October yet." Dan replied, smirking slightly in response to the flicker of disapproval that crosses Phil's face in response to the spontaneous nickname. Clearly that one's for the "no" pile then.

 Phil ends up drinking both the latte and the frappé they get, after Dan takes one sip and decides it's too sickly sweet for his tastes. He then spends the rest of the day bouncing off the walls due to the sugar, even during the series of meetings they were heading to in the first place.  
  
  
  
  
***

   

It's the first week of October when the subject is brought up again. Even if the conversation turns out to be a bit one-sided. By this time, they already know they'll be playing the "Outlast 2" demo, and the latest "Five Nights at Freddy's" game.

 Phil's sat on the sofa in the lounge, half-heartedly browsing through games on Steam, telling himself he's looking for anything that might be suitable for a video. In actual fact he's killing time while Dan finishes his liveshow, (he’d just been and made a fair amount of noise in the kitchen as a not-too-subtle hint) and just keeping himself from worrying about the TATINOF films being uploaded the next day, unsurprisingly without much luck on any of the three fronts, when Dan enters the room and throws himself onto the sofa next to him, none-too-gently pushing Phil’s MacBook off his lap and burying his head there instead, pressed uncomfortably face-down into Phil’s thighs.  
  
“Hiding away from the world?” he asks, not even trying to hide the amusement in his voice. This is, after all, a fairly common post-liveshow occurrence. Something to do with having spent an hour or so alone, but talking to thousands of people occasionally makes them crave quiet, even silent moments in someone’s company. By default, it’s with one another.  
  
Not for the first time that evening, Phil’s almost glad he brushed aside invites and hints to spend the evening with his family, claiming (correctly, as it turned out) that they’d be far too distracted to be decent company.  
  
Relieved, certainly. Not that he’d admit it to anyone but Dan, and not that _he’d_ ask, them being almost uncomfortably aware of how sometimes, just sometimes they shut themselves off from the rest of the world. When it was necessary. Like now, for example.  
  
Dan huffs out a sigh, and nods, his face still squashed into Phil’s lap. His hand reaches up to pluck at the seam of Phil’s jeans, but stills as Phil moves his own hands, so one rests across his shoulder blades, the other trails fingers through his hair gently, whilst the thumb rubs up and down the nape of Dan’s neck.  
  
Almost immediately, Phil can feel, can almost _see_ the tension draining out of his boyfriend’s body. They stay like that for a while, barely moving, until the sound of Dan’s stomach rumbling breaks the silence.  
  
“Quiet, you” Phil murmurs, chuckling softly, as Dan turns his head to look up at his face, blushing slightly. “I _was_ about to order dinner, until _someone_ decided to fling my laptop across the room…” he says jokingly, pre-emptively answering the question he knows is coming.  “I wasn’t having much luck finding us games to play, so I thought I’d at least get dinner ready...” He trails off at Dan’s raised eyebrows before continuing somewhat defensively “But… There’s plates and cutlery ready in the kitchen, and drinks in the fridge. I wanted to wait and check what you wanted before I ordered…”  
  
Dan sits back on his heels, grinning, before reaching for Phil’s discarded laptop, opening it and scanning the order before quickly adding the payment details and hitting confirm, before settling against Phil’s side comfortably and opening Steam and GAME in a separate tab on Chrome.  
  
“Nothing suitable, hmmm?” He asks, scrolling through the list of games, most of which they’ve either played themselves, or previously discussed and dismissed as not right for spooky week in the past two years. "I suppose we could always throw in a cheeky Dil vid... maybe turn Tabitha into a serial killer for Halloween."

 Phil laughs in agreement, and they spend the rest of the time before their food arrives coming up with increasingly ridiculous ideas for their Sims' careers as criminal masterminds.

 

***

 

"No. Absolutely not."

 Phil knew as soon as Dan tensed up completely, gripping his waist tightly that this barely half-formed casual suggestion wasn't going to go down as one of his better ideas. It’d only happened because he was completely out of ideas of where to look for a halfway decent reasonably scary game to play over the next few days. Even before Dan responded in a flat, small voice then buried his face in the crook of Phil's neck, clearly unwilling to discuss the subject any further, he was already kicking himself, desperately wishing he could take it back.

 Scrambling for a way to simultaneously make light of it, and soothe Dan before they both ended up losing sleep tonight, Phil tilts his head to press a quick reassuring kiss to Dan's hair, wrapping one arm around Dan, holding him securely, and laying the other over where Dan's arm is wrapped around his waist still.

 "Okay Dan, it's alright. We'll do them together, you and me"

 He feels Dan exhale shakily against his neck, but his grip on Phil doesn't loosen, even when he starts rubbing small shapes, a random mix of rainbows and full circles into whatever skin his hands are in contact with.

 He's worried continuing the conversation will seem like he's trying to talk Dan into it, so he stays quiet, rests his head gently against Dan’s, and just waits.

 What had happened the last time they'd decided on solo spooky week videos had somehow slipped his mind.  
  
Stupidly.  
  
It’s all come rushing back to the forefront of his mind now though.  
  
It hadn’t been his idea, or planned in advance, but they’d just run out of energy the night they’d tried to film the videos all in one go. They’d managed to film two, but had underestimated how long they’d be playing, and how tiring it’d be.  
  
So when they’d finished Sonic.exe, and Dan had suggested they call it a night and he could film a video whilst home alone, Phil had readily agreed, eager to get to bed, ahead of travelling up to see his family the next morning. He did take the footage they’d filmed with him to edit and upload though, figuring both that it would lighten Dan’s workload, and also give him something to do whilst travelling.  
  
But after texting Dan that he’d arrived, and the videos were uploaded and ready for him to look at before going public, he’d concentrated on spending time with his family. That being the reason he’d gone away for a few days in the first place. It wasn’t until later that night… _late_ that night Dan had phoned him that he remembered he’d said he was going to film another video.  
  
He’d answered cheerfully, happy to speak to his boyfriend back at home, but had quickly realised something was amiss when Dan never said a word, didn’t even utter a sound.  
  
“Dan…?” he’d asked hesitantly, already worried. “Are you okay?” He hadn’t heard a response, other than a shaky-sounding breath, and he’d barely paused before hitting the “Facetime” button on his phone. It’d seemed like ages, but in reality, and hindsight it’s probably only been a few seconds before the screen showed Dan, pale-faced, curled in on himself sat on the sofa in the gaming room.  
  
“Hey. There you are” he’d said, doing his level best to not sound or look anywhere near as worried as he was. “What’s wrong Bear?”  
  
It’d taken another couple of minutes of softly-spoken comforting words before Dan had managed to form a barely-coherent reply. By that stage, Phil had been ready to tear his hair out, knowing full well he wasn’t able to get back to London at this time of night. No boats, no flights. No chance. He’d just have to do his best through a screen, from 250 miles away, however difficult that proved to be.  
  
In the end, he’d stayed on the phone for four hours that night. It’d taken an hour to convince Dan to leave the office, and another half an hour before they’d completed a circuit of the entire flat, switching on every light, and checking all the doors and windows were locked. Eventually, he’d convinced Dan to at least try and get some sleep, by then curled up on Phil’s bed, a familiar DVD playing on the TV, completely ignored, as Phil continued chattering quietly about anything and everything, if only to give Dan something to focus on besides the thoughts in his head. A tactic Phil had learned early on in their relationship, and still occasionally used when needed.  
  
Eventually Dan had dropped into an uneasy sleep. Phil left his phone plugged in charging, and didn’t hang up. Just in case. Another trick he’d worked out years ago, after accidentally falling asleep on skype one time. Dan had admitted later that even just being able to see Phil sleeping through a screen was calming enough to help him get back to sleep himself if he woke during the night.  
  
The following night he’d used their “secret” YouNow account to sign in and watch Dan’s broadcast. He’d winced in sympathy when the video had finished exporting, scaring Dan into silence partway through, had seen through the upbeat, yet nervous laughter-filled ending of the show (much like the majority of the broadcast,) and had already started calling him before the feed cut out.  
  
They’d chatted whilst Dan had uploaded the video, ordered dinner, and had only hung up when Dan bemoaned his inability to talk, eat, and hold his phone all at the same time, and after Phil had reminded him he’d be back late afternoon the following day.  
  
Phil is pulled from his two-year-old memories when Dan shifts, lifting his head to make eye contact in the half-light of the bedroom.  
  
“Promise?” he asks, tentatively, as if scared his earlier flat dismissal of Phil’s suggestion might cause a disagreement.  
  
“Promise.” Phil agrees, smiling, before continuing “We’ll find, and fight the monsters _together_ ” as he pulls a relieved-looking Dan back down into his arms.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this turned into a bit of a monster. It's done now! Hope you like it!
> 
> Thanks to lilMango & snowcappedeevee for the encouragement when I was about ready to give up writing this one. Or cut it down to just the first section in frustration. Much loves!! <3
> 
> Cross-posted over on my Phantrash tumblr: DryCerealThief.tumblr.com #CheekySpon
> 
> Roll on Thursday for DAPGO, and hurrah for Spooky Week and bonus baking! It's been a good week! <3
> 
> (btw, I reserve the right to change the title, summary and tags if/when (definitely when!) I think of something better. But they'll do for now!)


End file.
